Mohamed Simakan talks about his admiration for Marseille

Mohamed Simakan (23) has evoked his love for Olympique de Marseille in a wide-ranging interview with RMC Sport,  filmed ahead of RB Leipzig’s UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg tie with Real Madrid (0-1).

🗣️ “Marseille c’est un club que j’admire, un club dont je suis tombé amoureux mais il a fallu faire des choix”

Son poste, son départ en Bundesliga, sa formation à l’OM, l’équipe de France… découvrez l’intégralité de notre interview de Simakan ▶️ https://t.co/G9adfCm5yy pic.twitter.com/HL1jUz0MMM

— RMC Sport (@RMCsport) February 13, 2024

The French youth international, who joined RB Leipzig from Ligue 1’s RC Strasbourg back in the summer of 2021, spent five years in Les Phoceen’s youth set up before joining Strasbourg in 2017. Despite never graduating further than youth level, the defender still has fond memories of the club: 

” Marseille is a club that everyone knows I admire. It’s a club that I fell in love with before any other. It was complicated because I had to make choices and we couldn’t come to an agreement. When we’re young, we’re all working to become professional players and if we are Marseillais, we want to become pro at Olympique de Marseille, but when I saw that certain things are complicated, I told myself that I had made alot of sacrifices in terms of my youth and if I wasn’t getting rewarded with progression at Marseille, I needed to leave. It was a tough decision to make, alot of emotions came to me, alot of disappointment, but I believe today the decision has bore fruit”

After impressing with Strasbourg in Ligue 1, Simakan is loving life in the Bundesliga with Leipzig, having won two Deutsche Pokals and routinely competing for Champions League qualification with the east German outfit. Marseille fans will hope that he comes back to the south of France one day, but it won’t be just yet. 

GFFN | Jack McArdle